Friday, September 30, 2011

It's easy to introduce Autumn into your home without cliche decorating of leaves and pumpkins. How? With color. Purchase a few hand towels in burnt reds and golds to place by your sinks or add some orange to your sofa with a few, bold throw pillows if your current color scheme allows for it. How else? Nothing is better than a pumpkin spice candle burning this time of year to get you in the mood for the changing seasons. Purchase a small one to place in the bath when company is visiting and a larger one for your kitchen counter or table display. Of course, if you're in a baking mood, "ode-de-pumpkin pie" is unbeatable when it's the real deal!

A pumpkin-orange hand towel and some harvest yellow soap add some
Fall color to this bathroom, tying in nicely with the leaf-wrapped candle.

A family room's colors live up to the Autumn season with earthy orange and yellow.
Even the mottled cordovan color of the leather sofa speaks of Fall.

A simple, pumpkin pie candle provides the color and smell that says "Autumn is Here."

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Various sizes of empty food cans have been carefully cleaned and inverted, creating some funky, modern, industrial candle-holders. The different "silver" finishes and textures (ribbing) assists in creating an interesting mix of theme. Numerous sized and height cans also help create a better look.

This a jumping off point for future can projects. I already have a few ideas to "spruce them up" for autumn decor. 3" diameter candle pillars fit these cans nicely.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

It's easy to throw a nice looking, festive display together to celebrate the holidays or to dress up your table for guests. This linear arrangement emphasizes the length of this narrow console table. Minus the black wooden bowl which I already had, the display cost $7.00. Not bad, eh?

For a more minimal yet modern take, you could use pumpkins only, in a straight line. Pick those with a similar size. Or, put a larger one in the center if you like and size them gradually smaller as they move outward. This design would still look contemporary and clean.

A dollar bag of fabric leaves from Christmas Tree Shop creates a "runner" of sorts and provides some extra fall color. Deep reds and gold are used throughout this kitchen already so this display coordinates nicely.

BTW, these bags of pumpkins and gourds were just under $3.00 a piece at Walmart. I don't normally think of that store as a place I'd purchase my pumpkins and gourds as I usually purchase from local farms, however, in jiffy and for a good price I thought I'd grab them and get a jump-start on the Autumn decorating.

Monday, September 26, 2011

If you are an IKEA fan, they finally have a blog for fan-based interaction. The IKEA Share Space allows you to create a profile and upload pictures of your rooms or "Spaces" as IKEA prefers to call them, and tag the IKEA items you used in your Space; a cool feature. The only thing is the item inventory for tagging seems to be somewhat limiting; most likely only 2011-2012 catalog items appear. I used IKEA a lot when I started out with my homes and still use most of those items and furnishings to this day. A few pieces were sold but it's cool to be able to upload the pictures and point out your IKEA items. Too bad they don't allow you to type in the name of the "out-dated" items in the tag field or at least note what the heck the tag is referring to. Oh well. Now, if we can only get Pier 1 Imports to come up with something similar. I have much more items and furnishings from them that I would gladly show off.

Hmm, lots of items made it into this office. An Ikea couch (no longer available), a small side table at the left of the door which is actually still available (a mere 12 years later) and the ever popular LACK collection side tables which I've placed together as a coffee table (also still available).

A small office chair to the right was from IKEA (no longer available) but the 3 track ceiling light is still there! A small, silver 6 drawer filing cabinet sets off to the right of the picture (out of view) was a more recent IKEA purchase (within the past 2 years). If they were closer, I'd probably have more of their items in my home.

Well, I've been "promoting" the use of old wooden vises as decor in my home so why not stay on the "tool trend". I saved this old, rustic level of my father's and decided to finally put it to use. I like the unique star cut-outs on each end and wonder about their significance. It is a nice addition to the repurposed milk can and wooden boat implement in this living room's corner.

I had a few other ideas so it may find a new home.. I placed it long-ways down the center of my "new" kitchen table, setting it upright so you see the star detail. It created a cool center element of rustic appeal on the wooden table top. I also thought it would look neat placed or over a doorway, like an architectural, decorative feature. The tabletop placement was my favorite, so when I grow tired of the wooden bowl of pods (see the table pics in previous posts), perhaps I'll introduce it.

Do you have a love of old rusty implements and tools? Share what you've done.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

I saw a similar idea for this candle online but they used fabric leaves instead. Since I have no intentions on burning this candle, I decided to use some free leaves laying on my front porch and walkway.

My mom gave me an old, wooden candle-holder that was being thrown out from one of our local thrift stores. The base was loose but only needed a bit of wood glue on the dowel that seated it. I placed two leaves under the candle for a cool look. The other leaves were simply wrapped onto the candle with a bit of jute twine. Nice, autumn colors. We'll see how the leaves do. They have already begun curling up a bit from drying. Hopefully they retain their current colors. I can easily switch them out with some "new" leaves every week if necessary to keep this display looking nice. Actually the curling look of the leaves adds a bit of interest and dimension so far that I like.

Most who know me understand my love of mixing different styles together while still obtaining a sense of cohesion. Well, yesterday I finally switched out my small kitchen dinette set of 14 years. This little set is great, clean-lines, contemporary and simple. I really liked it but kept an old farm-type table from my father's estate. I finally got around to cleaning it up a bit (some sanding and staining) and got it moved into place yesterday.

What a welcomed difference. The darker color provides the contrast that was lacking with the other set which seemed to blend too well with the flooring and wainscoting. The vintage vibe still works well with the contemporary and organic elements I love to infuse in my spaces. Do you like the updated look?

Stay tuned as I need to figure out what type of chairs I'm going to add to this table as none were with the set. I'm currently thinking of saddle-seat stools that can push totally under to keep the open feel of the space.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

While cruising around the blog-o-sphere, I came across this great autumn jar project. As I've been trying to come up with ideas on how to effectively use glass jars lately, I thought this one was worth mentioning, especially since we have entered Autumn.

Another idea I had was to do something with bare tree branches for an outdoor display. You can make it eerie or "autumny" depending on the decorations you choose to add. While surfing I came upon this mini-version to give you an idea of what I'm talking about.

Found this image first at the Homegoods blog and also again at PepperDesignBlog as I don't know who to give full credit to. I love the use of birdseed as an anchor for the branches. This would be a great table display and can be modified depending on what you choose to hang from the twigs (acorns, mini pine cones, small, colorful leaves).

Now imagine creating this on a much larger scale with big branches having lots of smaller twigs coming off the central branch/limb. Place it in a pot/planter large enough to accommodate it. (if I had a branch that was 5 or 6 feet tall, I would use a planter at least one foot tall) An old terra cotta planter you no longer want to use would look nice. Fill the planter with about 3/4 full of concrete mix to gauge how much you will need, then pour the dry contents back into an old bucket, add water (small amounts at at time) and mix. Consider plugging the bottom of your planter with a cotton ball to keep the concrete mixture from seeping out as it sets. (or place the planter somewhere that any seeping concrete won't make a mess until it sets up.) The cotton ball should still allow rain water to drain that may get into the top of the planter and seep down between the concrete mold and the inner walls of the planter.

You can either have somebody hold the branch upright as you pour the mixture into the planter or you can pour the mixture in first and then push your branch down till it hits the bottom. Either way, you will need to support the branch a bit until the mixture firms up enough to keep it standing upright.

After the concrete has dried, you can spray paint the branches any color (such as black or orange) if you choose, or keep them natural as I would do. Hang mini gourds or pumpkins from the branches via jute twine. Mask the concrete in the base with a decorative element such as leaves or fill with other gourds/pumpkins. Spanish moss would work too. The finished project would be best for an area that has overhead protection such as porch with a roof to inhibit rain water from filling the base. Hopefully any water that enters can drain down the sides enough to not become an issue.

I have not attempted this project but the only issue I could see may be the terra cotta possibly cracking or the dried concrete form coming loose from the pot itself. So, use caution when picking up to move from place to place. It's probably best to pick it up by the planter rather than by the branch. This decor could be used year after year if you have a place to store it.

You could also use it indoors instead. It would make a great focal piece for a children's Halloween party. Hang tissue paper ghosts from it and small bags of candy that the children can pick off. You can even hide the bags of candy in cuts of burlap fabric tied up with jute and have the kid's names painted on the outside or simple images of ghosts and pumpkins added.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

While outside this morning taking some pictures for a new webpage, I walked right past an unlikely, late September, new arrival . . . Morning Glory!
It was a rather overcast morning when a pop ofblue"glory" caught my eye. To my surprise, two blue blooms had opened on a Morning Glory vine I had seen earlier in the year, transplanted to a more appropriate spot and forgot about. It was easy to miss this vine's growth as I had placed it in the ground near my clematis, hoping the two would mix and be blooming at the same time. Not so. The clematis bloom time has come and gone months ago. Still, a wandering vine was making headway, stealthily.

A welcomed, late Summer guest this year, I hope it sticks around for awhile. At least until the orange of pumpkins and leaves grace the grounds.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Well, the Frugal Tree "got shook" by hurricane Irene. Water in the basement and no electricity for 5 days made blogging and computer work impossible. Thank goodness I could take up temporary residence with my parents. Lots of tree debris littered the property and I finally got things back to normal by Friday.

I did however manage to throw together a cool decor piece for my kitchen. I visited a local flea market in search of some vintage canning jars with lids and found what I wanted to fill a small wooden cheese box given to me by my sister.

I at first wanted three jars of the same height, each being of a different make. I could not find three of the same size so ended up running back for the 3rd larger jar which actually fit perfectly. The result was better than my initial plan and I really like the look.

This quick project, which you can easily do, cost about $8.00.

The jars are by 1)Presto, 2)Ball, 3)Atlas (I even found matching name-embossed lids for the Ball and Atlas jars!)

These jars if used in a kitchen could each be filled with a different item such as dried pasta, elbow macaroni, dry lentils or beans, even used for flour and sugar storage or any other decorative accent feature you may want to place within. I personally like the empty jar look right now so will leave them in that state for awhile. These definitely provide more character than any newly purchased kitchen canister set.